Speaking of light foods....just yesterday I was coming back from a vacation in central Maine. Passed a yard sale and saw what looked to be a dehydrator on the table! I hesitated to ask my pops to pull over and let me out, considering we had other cars following us out there and there was tons of traffic on this one lane road. Now...I sit at home and am on a light food thread and kick myself!

Anywho, I don't know why but I have a love affair with beans and rice and hot sauce. The Zatarains type. A bit more of a pain to cook as far as time, but so worth it. I take it all out of the box and I have a small bottle of hot sauce...mmmmmmmm

TrailCooking.com is a great website with lots of recipes and ideas, often using foods available at your local supermarket. Some of us go beyond this and dehydrate our own meals, and there's lots of info about that, too. The owner, Sarbar, is a frequent contributor here.

Do a search in the "Lite Food Talk" section (where your post has now been moved) and you'll find lots of other references. For instructions on searching this site, which can be a bit tricky, see the "sticky" post at the beginning of the "General Discussion" section.

_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

Have you tried quinoa? Cooks fast, loaded with good stuff like B vitamins - protein - iron etc. throw in some dehydrated veggies and a seasoning, you have a fast and nutritious one pot meal. I started carrying it about three years ago and it has become a core staple to my packing meals.

No personal experience on this, but I've read that this grain needs to be "washed" to remove some bitterness. Some brands may come pre-rinsed. How a food behaves and the care it needs is important in my considerations for backpacking foods. Pre-rinsing requires more water than just add water foods. Actual cooking (or actual boiling watr) VS adding hot water changes the fuel dynamic.

For example, I usually have add water only foods. If I need cold water, I don't need to carry fuel for that meal. If I need hot, but not boiling water, the one half-Esbit that I plan for my precooked and dehydrated meal may stretch to water just warm enough for a cup of tea or instant coffee (in the summer). If I needed truly boiling water or to simmer something, I might need more fuel.

I purchased a dehydrater a while back and have been dehydrating some of the dinners my wife cooks to use backpacking. Her Spaghetti sauce, chile, rice and beans, homemade jams for furit rolls, and so on - you mostly just have to add boiling water to to eat.

My next purchase will be a dehydrator and a food saver bag thingie. I think dehydrated meals is the way to do it. I am trying to talk my room mates and fellow backpacking buddies in to chipping in on this system. Also been looking at a cozy bag too. Found some neat ones online. Question for you folks though, is a cozy bag necessary? Or just a creature comfort so to speak.